Frustration getting benefits: Unemployed see long lines, long wait

February 05, 2013|By Lorene Parshall, Staff Writer

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — During the cold winter months, people from across the area are turning frustrated with long lines and long waits at the Gaylord Problem Resolution Office of the Unemployment Insurance Agency, 400 E. Main St.

The complaints come from both those near the Gaylord area and those who must travel farther to the office, which is one of just 14 of its kind in Michigan.

“We had to come to Gaylord four times in the last three weeks, a 140-mile round trip, and wait in the cold to get into the Problem Resolution Office,” said Jo Ellen Crosett of Cross Village. “The last time, we were forced off an icy road by speeding cars and ended up in a ditch.”

Jo Ellen said her husband, Matthew, a laid-off pipe fitter and plumber, had become so frustrated by difficulties with the Unemployment Insurance Agency (UIA) recently that she began documenting the problems.

“Matt hasn’t been able get through on MARVIN (Michigan Automated Response Voice Activated Interactive Network phone system) time after time,” Jo Ellen said. “When he does get through, it tells him it isn’t his day to call, even though it is, or it says there’s a problem with his benefits. They keep changing the password without telling us. You can’t phone the Problem Resolution office, so we have to make the trip here and still not get the problem resolved.

The UIA recommends that the unemployed use the MARVIN phone system or their online system to check in every two weeks and verify that they are unemployed and looking for work. The agency has warned that not checking in can result in late benefits payments or the loss of benefits entirely.

“Others have had the same problem,” Jo Ellen said. “Some of them (unemployed) have just given up and I think that’s what they want. There are no jobs in Cross Village. (Gov. Rick) Snyder cut unemployment benefits from 26 to 20 weeks. Then, he busted the unions. These are all American workers who worked for the benefits.”

Jo Ellen said her husband has tried to access the online system to resolve problems, but that also didn’t work. She doesn’t blame the workers in the Gaylord office, stating they’re overworked.

Kyle McDowell is a laid-off iron worker from Central Lake.

“I have not been able to get through to MARVIN numerous times,” McDowell said. “You either can’t get through or the system hangs up on you. The ultimate solution is I’ve had to take a 45-minute drive to Gaylord, wait in long lines to talk to someone and still not get my problem resolved.”

McDowell said he can’t afford the luxury of paying for Internet access to online services and paying for the gas for the trips to Gaylord is a hardship as he has been off work for six weeks with no income.

“I think we’re having these problems because the state wants to us to give up trying to get benefits,” McDowell said. “After Snyder got right-to-work passed, he wants to get rid of unemployment so we all end up in low-wage, part-time jobs. There are no jobs in Central Lake.”

According to UIA communications specialist Lynda Robinson, there could be a number of factors causing difficulty accessing the system. The UIA is now under the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), and Robinson suggested information about UIA could be found at www.michigan.gov/lara.

Last January, unemployed people in Michigan lost federal extended benefits because of the state’s official unemployment rate dropping to 9.3 percent.

The 9.3 rate, however, did not portray the total picture of unemployment in the state, said George Erickcek, a senior analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo.

“People who work five to six hours a week at odd jobs can be considered employed, even if they don’t consider themselves employed,” Erickcek said. “The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calls 60,000 people across the country and 2,000 in each state to come up with monthly unemployment rates. The bureau has six categories of unemployment as measured by labor underutilization. U-3 (which includes all jobless persons who are available to take a job and have actively sought work in the last four weeks) is the one used by states as their official unemployment rate.”

The bureau of labor’s U-6 category includes the total number of unemployed, plus the number of “discouraged workers” who are available for work and had looked for work in the prior 12 months but have come to believe there are no jobs available, and “involuntary part-time workers” who want full-time jobs but whose hours have been cut or who are unable to find full-time jobs.

While Michigan’s U-3 unemployment rate was listed at 9.3 percent, the bureau of labor said Michigan’s U-6’s unemployment rate was 16.6 percent.

Michigan’s official unemployment rate for December was 8.9 percent, while Otsego County was at 11.1, Antrim County at 11.9 and Emmet County at 12.7.

The long lines at the Gaylord Unemployment Insurance Agency office seem to have dissipated in recent weeks, possibly because of extreme weather.

Still, the changes of unemployment over the last couple of years have affected the unemployed across Michigan (see accompanying story).

“I have twins to support and I have to keep fighting just to keep food on the table,” McDowell said.